German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit Monday called a 24-hour strike affecting all Ryanair flights out of Germany Wednesday to push its demands in talks with the carrier on wages and work conditions. The union called on German-based pilots to strike from Wednesday 0101 GMT until Thursday 0059 GMT, affecting all flights departing from Germany during that period. "Despite the clear signal sent with the strike in early August there's still standstill at the negotiation table," VC's pay negotiator said. More walk-outs are on the cards as 7 trade unions representing Ryanair cabin crew in 5 countries threatened last week to hold a strike in late September unless the airline agrees to improve working conditions. <br/>
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Ryanair Monday barred all media from reporting at its annual shareholder meeting next week, saying the move is to allow shareholders to raise matters freely with the board without discussions being "distorted". Journalists generally report from annual general meetings of publicly listed companies and Ryanair CE Michael O'Leary usually speaks to the media at press briefings for each year's meeting. Ryanair said there would be no press briefing this year. The carrier has suffered its worst ever strikes this summer as it struggled to quell protests over slow progress in negotiating collective labour agreements with pilots and cabin crew. Ryanair's AGM last year was dominated by the cancellation of 2,000 flights because of rostering problems that sparked the staff unrest. That meeting was open to the media. <br/>
HiFly’s flagship A380 is making headlines again after it was damaged as it collided with a jet bridge as it was being towed forward at Paris Charles de Gaulle Sunday last night whilst operating services for Air Austral. The flight was supposed to take off from Friday at 5:00 pm arriving at Reunion, Roland Garros International at 6:00 am in the morning local time. However, one of the aircraft’s Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines was damaged as it collided with the jet bridge as the aircraft was being towed towards it. No passengers were on board at the time of the incident. The Reunion carrier had wet-leased the A380 from HiFly in order to make up for one of the carrier’s Boeing 787-8s which is currently out of service for 3 months due to Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engine inspections. <br/>
EasyJet will shift 1,400 UK pilot licenses to Austrian ones as the LCC prepares for a no-deal Brexit. “Depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, UK-issued pilot licenses after the UK leaves the EU could be no longer valid within the EU,” an EasyJet spokesperson said. “That’s why we have worked with the UK’s CAA and Austro Control [Austrian Aviation Authority] to come up with a solution,” the spokesperson said, adding the new licensing process will begin from November. Germany-registered pilots are excepted from this move, as they will move over to German licenses. UK-based crews that will carry out British operations do not have to make any changes. In preparation for Brexit in March 2019 EasyJet is transferring 130 of its UK-registered Airbus A319s/A320s to its Europe unit in Vienna. <br/>
Air Mandalay has suspended all scheduled and charter services to restructure its business, the fourth domestic airline in Myanmar to wind up in the face of high fuel prices and slower than projected demand. Myanmar’s second oldest airline suspended services starting from Sept 4, with no confirmed date for the resumption of operations. Air Mandalay’s spokesperson said this would be subject to market conditions. The airline joins Air Bagan, Apex airline and FMI Air to have wound down, leaving 6 domestic businesses to compete in the sector. The company stated that it “has been extremely difficult” to operate in the country and the situation has worsened since 2011, when “a number of new airline licenses were approved to operate in the country. <br/>
South Korean start-up hybrid carrier Air Premia plans to launch services in the first half of 2020 after securing a total of US$33m in capital ahead of starting its license application process. The carrier discloses that it secured $22m in Series A funding that closed Sept 7. In addition to $11m in seed funding, its capitalisation is now above Seoul’s planned minimum of $27m to license new carriers. Based on that it intends to submit its air carrier license application this month. CE and co-founder Jong Chul Kim says that strong investor interest demonstrates that it is the right time for a new medium- and long-haul hybrid carrier to enter the Korean market. Kim is a former CE of Jeju Air, and the airline says that it he is leading a group of flight operations, safety and maintenance executives. <br/>